FREE/BARGAIN — Media Deals (non-eBook/non-audiobook)

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Thanks - this site works for me because I know what I want and I'm quite content with 128 MP3.

I can see that you are not the aficionado and virtuoso of classical music that others and myself are, such that your ears can detect the minutest of tone, range differences, and such like, to enjoy to the fullest the experience of listening to audio recordings produced with the most advanced equipment available.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I can see that you are not the aficionado and virtuoso of classical music that others and myself are, such that your ears can detect the minutest of tone, range differences, and such like, to enjoy to the fullest the experience of listening to audio recordings produced with the most advanced equipment available.

I love classical music, but I'm definitely not an audiophile. My Echo Dot's speaker is usually sufficient for me. If I want more sound, I'll hook up a small sub-$20 BT speaker.

[GtrsRGr8]

Claude Debussy composed a piece called Nocturnes: No. 2 Fetes. Today we can receive a free rendition of it from YourClassical.

This rendition is a 6 minute, 43 second one, performed by the Lyon National Orchestra, along with the Leipzig MDR Radio Choir. Jun Marki is the conductor.

This piece is from a Naxos album, Debussy - Nocturnes - Clair de lune - Pelleas et Melisande - Symphonie, which album you can learn much more about by pointing your browser to this dedicated Naxos webpage for the album.

A "Direct MP3 download link" for the free piece, as well as a streaming feature, can be found at this dedicated YourClassical webpage for the piece.

The piece has high highs and very low lows in volume. It sounds modern, perhaps because it is, relatively speaking--Debussy lived and wrote well into the 20th century. It sounds much like a soundtrack to a modern movie.

[GtrsRGr8]

EMENDATION: I don't know how many people would care one way or the other about this . . . early this morning, when I was doing the post below, I noticed on Naxos' dedicated webpage for the album that the length for Hungarian Dance No. 3 is not 52 minutes long. In fact, none of the pieces is 52 minutes long. Dance No. 10 is 1:52, however. I thought that if I had some time later in the day, I would look at it, again, then, and try to figure out the incongruity.

When I re-listened to the free piece again just now, I noticed that it runs 1:52 (I didn't notice, then, that it played 1 minute longer than it was supposed to be). That corresponds with Dance No. 10, but does not, of course, match with Dance No. 3, which runs 2:46.

This is, in fact, Dance No. 10, not Dance No. 3. My handy dandy Spotify account happened to have what appears to be the same recording of Dance No. 10 (from London Philharmonic, key of F, and all that). It runs 1:52, and after playing the two and comparing them, it is obvious that the songs are the same.


Today's YourClassical freebie once again comes from a Naxos album, this album being entitled Brahms - Symphony No. 2 - Hungarian Dances. Credits shown on the album cover are 1) London Philharmonic Orchestra, and 2) Marin Alsop as conductor. You might be interested in learning more about the entire album. If so, you can navigate to the dedicated Naxos webpage for the album to do that.

The particular piece from the album that we can get free is Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 3. It is extremely short--only 52 seconds long. There is a stream feature, and also a way to download the free piece (click on the "Direct MP3 download link") located on this webpage.

I would describe this free piece as being lively and stirring. I don't know if this is a characteristic of Brahms' compositions or not, as I'm still learning the characteristics and styles of the various classical composers.

[GtrsRGr8]

Please read the emendation to post #1444.

[tubemonkey]

Microsoft Movie Deal -- exp 27 Feb

$4.99 -- Oscar-Winning Movies (31 titles) --> get a FREE $5 GC with each purchase


Build your Oscar collection and receive $5 gift cards

For a limited time, buy any movie from our select collection of Oscar-winning films for just $4.99 HD on Microsoft Movies & TV and get a $5 Windows Store gift card per purchase* to spend on even more movies, games, apps, or music! Once you own these movies, you can watch across any Windows 10 device or Xbox console or download for offline viewing.

Between Feb. 21 and Feb. 27, buy this movie and get a $5 Windows Store gift card. Once the eligible purchase is made, you will receive a follow up email with your gift card before Mar. 7. For full details, visit: www.microsoft.com/movies-and-tv.

Terms

Spoiler:

Build Your Oscar Collection Movie Offer

*Once the eligible purchase is made on Microsoft Movies & TV** you will receive a follow up email with instructions on redeeming your gift card. Must be redeemed by May 31, 2017.

Limit 1 Windows store gift card per customer per qualifying title purchase. Not valid on rentals. Not valid on prior orders or purchases; cannot be transferred or otherwise redeemed for cash. Customer must purchase qualifying title after Feb. 21, 2017 12:01 am ET and before Feb. 27, 2016 at 11:59 PM PST. Once activated, a second e-mail will follow within one week with a single use redemption code for $5. Redeem by May 31, 2017 and spend within 90 days.Valid in the United States only. Valid at select Microsoft digital marketplaces for eligible purchases. See gift card terms at www.microsoft.com/giftcard. You must be 13+.

.

[tubemonkey]

5 ways to watch movies online for free

No money in the budget for a Netflix subscription? Or Amazon Prime? Fear not: As long as you have an internet connection, you can still enjoy movie night. Granted, you may not be able to stream Hollywood's latest, but you can still enjoy gems such as "Apollo 13," "The Imitation Game" and plenty of classics, all without spending an extra penny.

Here are five services offering totally free (and totally legal) movies you can watch online.

• Crackle
  
• Hoopla
  
• Internet Archive
  
• Vudu Movies on Us
  
• Yahoo View
  
• YouTube

[GtrsRGr8]

YourClassical is offering, today, a free MP3 of Cesar Franck's Symphony in D Minor: III. Finale.

The Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra performs, and Roberto Benzi is the conductor of this rendition. The piece is lengthy, being 10 minutes, 41 seconds long.

The Naxos album Franck - Orchestral Music Vol. 1 is the source of this free piece. If you would like to know more about the album itself, there is some more information about it at this dedicated Naxos webpage for the album.

I don't remember hearing a Cesar Franck piece until just now--he's just not as popular as the other masters. But I couldn't tell that his composition is the least bit inferior to those of Mozart, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Haydn, et al. The song itself is not likely to cause you to fall asleep--there are very high highs and low lows, plus the tempo varies considerably throughout the piece. If the volume of your MP3 player is low enough, it will have a movie-soundtrack "feel" to it; at least it did for me.

Stream and/or download the piece from the dedicated YourClassical webpage for the free piece. The streaming bar is obvious; download the piece by clicking on "Direct MP3 download link."

[GtrsRGr8]

The free selection from eMusic for today sounds pretty good.

The basics of this free piece:
Song: Wrong for You
Artist: Molly Burch
Album: Please Be Mine
Label: Captured Tracks / SC Distribution
Genre: Alternative/Punk

An incident that you might find funny . . . . I was listening to the song on my MP3 player, when I noticed at the top of the popup that it said, "Wrong for You." For a second, I thought that the MP3 player was telling me that the song was not right for me! I was trying to figure out why the MP3 player was telling me that, and how it could possibly know! Then it dawned on me that that was the name of the song. ha

Download the free track from this webpage.

[GtrsRGr8]

I'm not sure what Open Goldberg Variations is or does, exactly. Nor do I know its raison d'etre.But, I do know that you can obtain from them, free, Johann Sebastian Bach's, BWV 988.

It downloads as a zip file, and when I unzipped it, there were 31 tracks that resulted. They were all MP3's, however. More about that, later.

I don't know if this Bach composition was intended solely for the piano or not, but all 31 tracks of this work are played on the piano. Kimiko Ishizaka does the performance. I am almost certain that she also was the pianist for another recent freebie that I or someone else posted in the recent past. She is a fine pianist.

These are . . .
free to download and share. They are governed by the Creative Commons Zero license, which means that they are a part of the public domain, and every use of them is allowed . . . . [they] are free of copyright . . . . (www.opengoldbergvariations.org).

There are at least a couple of places where you can get the download. One is the Open Goldberg Variations in iTunes. Another is The Open Goldberg Variations from Bandcamp. Supposedly, you can download the album from Bandcamp in FLAC, WAV, AIF, MP3, and other formats. However, all of the music that I could find after unzipping the downloaded zip file was MP3's. If someone could help me figure out how to get one of the other formats, I would appreciate it. You can take a look at all of the free (digital) and not free (physical media) options here.

Here's how to get the free album. Navigate to this website. On the lefthand side, about halfway down the screen is the link saying, "Buy Now," followed by "name your price." Click on it. There will be a dialogue box with a place for the amount that you want to pay. If you want to pay nothing, put a zero in that form field, and click on "Check out now." You will get another dialogue box; put "0.00" in the form field. At the very bottom righthand corner there will be a statement that says "Alternatively, continue with zero and," followed by a link that says "download to your computer." Click on that link. You'll need to provide an email address for them to send a link for the free download to. Make sure to complete the country and zip code form fields. Then, click OK.

There is no free lunch in life. Some may be wondering how Ms. Ishizaka can afford to make these recordings when there are so many worthless people around like myself who just grab everything that they can for free. Well, she is supported by the crowdfunding source KickStarter, and the URL for her webpage with them is here.

Aren't Open Source/Access and crowdfunding great?

[GtrsRGr8]

Today's free piece from YourClassical comes, as they so often do, from a Naxos album. To be more precise, it comes from a 3-CD set (do you still call that an album? But I digress). The set is called Easy Listening Piano Classics - Schubert.

Today's piece is Schubert's Impromptu No. 2. It runs 4 minutes, 32 seconds long, and is in the MP3 format, as usual. Jeno Jando is the pianist for this piece, at least. No one is credited as conductor; one thing that I've learned since beginning to make these posts of classical pieces is that for solo or even quartet performances a conductor is optional, and maybe unnecessary, and this seems especially so for solo performances.

Find out much more about the entire 3-CD set by pointing your browser to this dedicated Naxos webpage for it. This is the link to follow in order to stream and/or download the free piece. The download link is the one which, fittingly enough, says "Direct MP3 download link."

In case you are unfamiliar with the piece, it has a very fast tempo, and the keys are struck lightly. Not particularly my kind of classic music, but we all have different tastes, and some of ya'll may really like it.

With this being Friday, we won't get another YourClassical freebie until Monday. I'm thinking of starting a thread for MobileReaders suffering withdrawal symptoms through the weekends from YourClassical freebies. Anyone need to join?

[GtrsRGr8]

EMusic's freebie of the day is a definite keeper for this rock lover. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the song is as good, and the band is as good, as many of the ones that I hear on the on-air rock music radio stations.

I love the electric guitar, and it's awesome on this piece.

So, here's the vital information:
Song: Mystic Lover
Artist: Brain Police
Album: Beyond The Wasteland
Label: Small Stone Records
Genre: Rock/Pop
Styles: Rock

Go to this eMusic webpage to download the free piece.

I guarantee that you'll like it, or your money back.

[Froide]

eMusic.com's free daily download for Sunday February 26, 2017:

Song: En Vill Hest Prins Thomas Remix of Casiokids
Artist: Casiokids
Album: Topp stemning på lokal bar
Label: Polyvinyl Records
Genre: Rock/Pop
Styles: Rock

http://www.emusic.com/dailydownloads/toolbar/main.html

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Froide

eMusic.com's free daily download for Sunday February 26, 2017:

Song: En Vill Hest Prins Thomas Remix of Casiokids
Artist: Casiokids
Album: Topp stemning på lokal bar
Label: Polyvinyl Records
Genre: Rock/Pop
Styles: Rock

http://www.emusic.com/dailydownloads/toolbar/main.html

So, you must have liked it? I thought that it was marginal, so I nixed it.

But, I had been listening to a bunch of Prince's songs (via IHeartPrinceRadio) for a while just before checking into the eMusic daily deal. Few artists would compare with him, of course. Especially an "up-and-comer." It would be like listening to the London Philharmonic and then turning right around and listening to an elementary school band.

I'm glad that you felt free to post that. As I've mentioned before, posting music, even classical music, isn't my exclusive domain. In fact, I may need someone else to post Alexander Street's from now on, because I haven't been able to get my log in credentials for them back. I tried setting up a new account (different email address), and that didn't work. I wrote them for help over a week ago, and they haven't responded. I can probably make a post of their new freebies, but the information that I will be able to get will be basic.

Speaking of Prince, I didn't realize how much that I really like his music until finding that "radio station." Other people's experiences might be the same with Prince. It's probably one reason why exceptional musicians tend to make much more money after they're dead than when they're alive.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

So, you must have liked it? I thought that it was marginal, so I nixed it.

But, I had been listening to a bunch of Prince's songs (via IHeartPrinceRadio) for a while just before checking into the eMusic daily deal. Few artists would compare with him, of course. Especially an "up-and-comer." It would be like listening to the London Philharmonic and then turning right around and listening to an elementary school band.

I'm glad that you felt free to post that. As I've mentioned before, posting music, even classical music, isn't my exclusive domain. In fact, I may need someone else to post Alexander Street's from now on, because I haven't been able to get my log in credentials for them back. I tried setting up a new account (different email address), and that didn't work. I wrote them for help over a week ago, and they haven't responded. I can probably make a post of their new freebies, but the information that I will be able to get will be basic.

Speaking of Prince, I didn't realize how much that I really like his music until finding that "radio station." Other people's experiences might be the same with Prince. It's probably one reason why exceptional musicians tend to make much more money after they're dead than when they're alive.

Yes, I do like the piece. I've liked some other eMusic.com pieces you've overlooked, as well, but for some reason was particularly moved to post yesterday's. No need for anyone to examine, explain, justify, or defend why they like or dislike, posted or didn't post particular works (except when obligated to by MR guidelines, such as those for posting independently published books, or to converse about them in a manner that respects diverse points of view). Nonetheless, I'll share: while I respect your right to compare the works and to judge them by whatever standard(s) you choose, this eclectic categorizes yesterday's eMusic.com piece and Prince's music in completely different genres (regardless of how the record companies might label them), likes each type of work for different reasons, and dislikes comparing apples and oranges.

As you already know, tastes in music - as in all the arts and sensory experiences - is extremely subjective: one beholder's treasure may be another's not so much. For example: the piece you really liked on Saturday was not my cuppa (but rock on, G); our opinions about the following day's piece differ; and you're not partial to Classical violin music while I adore it (and have won awards and scholarship offers for performing Classical and other genres of music on that instrument). On the other hand, we both like Prince's music, fiddle music, and Classical music in general - all for imperfectly overlapping reasons.

I'm glad that you felt free to post that. As I've mentioned before, posting music, even classical music, isn't my exclusive domain.

Of course; goes without saying. IMHO, the collaborative, crowd-sourced nature of MobileRead's forums help make this a go-to community, and cornucopia of diverse finds and discussions.